Maybe I’m not used to playing versus matches side-by-side with an opponent. Totally unable to focus and concentrate.

Negative points– Unable to figure out when exactly it’s safe (and which move to use) to counterattack during opponent’s blockstrings (especially against VAkiha). Ended up accidentally trying to mash my way out = die.– If I don’t attempt to counterattack… my opponent is able to resume his blockstring pressure and I eventually lose to an air-dash crossup or mixup.– Which brings me to my next point… need to figure out a way to anticipate the correct defence (high block / low block / shield / bunker?) in response to what the opponent is trying to do.

Blocking on reaction, based on what is happening on the screen seems destined for failure. Well, at least for VAkiha. She’s just too damn fast and her double air-dashing is really irritating.

Points to take note of– Add an additional air-dash cancel jC into the final part of VSion’s BnB. Having massive problems accomplishing this in training mode. Either the jC comes out too slow and the combo becomes invalid, or the jC doesn’t come out at all.

Too many matches ended in a loss for me when VAkiha’s life was one more pixel away from KO. I need every possible way to pile-on extra damage to ensure she gets KO-ed.

Character-specific matchups

VAkiha– Nothing new here. Just couldn’t focus myself on defending against her crossups and mixups. Kept losing like crazy.

Nanaya Shiki– Fought 2 rounds against Ian’s Nanaya. He has quite a few gimmicky crossup tricks with his teleport thingy and jumping freefall.– Ian says you can dodge (2+AB) Nanaya’s bullet-time AD the _moment_ his body vanishes. Must keep an eye on opponent’s meter in order to anticipate when he will use AD I guess.– Feels like a match of attrition when fighting Nanaya with VSion… whoever can deal the most pressure and deal the most damage the fastest will win.

Edward Pang

Likes videogames a lot, and good videogame writers even more. Plays almost everything except for rhythm games. Also enjoys sports, animation, comics, Japanese language studies, and the occasional American TV drama. Contributes to BallBall and No Game No Talk.